Reel to reel machine

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petermontg
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Joined: Sat Jun 26, 2010 7:51 am
Location: Ireland.

Post: # 21432Unread post petermontg
Mon Oct 15, 2012 11:25 am

Looking for a 1/2" test reel somewhere in Europe?

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bancho
Posts: 168
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 2:09 pm
Location: South of Middle Europe

Philips EL3501

Post: # 21919Unread post bancho
Fri Nov 23, 2012 2:13 pm

Today I went to auction of national radio's studio gear. There was many useless stuff but also few rarities. I won the Philips EL3501 mono reel to reel deck in very good cosmetic condition and also all mechanic stuff looks like normal. I tried to get some service manual before powering up (I thought it would be good idea) as it was sitting in the warehouse for quite a long. The problem is all i can find are bunch of youtube videos and nothing else useful.
Does maybe any of you guys have this manual or know somebody who knows somebody who would have it? I would appreciate it a lot!
The machine is transistor one (not valve). Is it possible maybe to turn it to stereo? Is this machine worth the effort as it looks it is heavily scarced.

thanx!

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bancho
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Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 2:09 pm
Location: South of Middle Europe

Post: # 21920Unread post bancho
Fri Nov 23, 2012 2:24 pm

... a friend got Telefunken 15A and he's not quite sure he wants it so maybe I'll get this one aswell :D

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dubcutter89
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Location: between the grooves..

Post: # 21928Unread post dubcutter89
Sat Nov 24, 2012 5:36 am

Nice Score!

Yes, this Philips Deck is quite rare, I only know 4
(yours, the 2 from that collector and one in a museum in my town...)
I can have a look if they have the manuals there...
Have you tried to contact that collector? Maybe he has something...

It should be possible to make it stereo (stereo headblock + amps),
but i guess there not to many headblocks floating around, and so you would
have to upgrade yours. I guess it's better to keep it original and use it with your grampian ;)

Lukas
Wanted: ANYTHING ORTOFON related to cutting...thx

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bancho
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Location: South of Middle Europe

Post: # 21929Unread post bancho
Sat Nov 24, 2012 6:23 am

dubcutter89 wrote: I guess it's better to keep it original and use it with your grampian ;)
this was the main reason I bought it :D

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bancho
Posts: 168
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Location: South of Middle Europe

Post: # 21930Unread post bancho
Sat Nov 24, 2012 6:34 am

About this Philips... I've made some research...
This were the first tape machines used on our national radio. They had mono only. After that they upgraded to stereo - Telefunken M15 (I was asking about M10 but in our country they didn't have it on any radio station). In previous auction which was last year they sold 5 of them - all to one guy who repaired two I think (the other were in bad condition and he used them for parts). Yesterday I got the only one left and this one was in the best condition :) This guy said it is all germanium based so it is quite a problem to get spare parts. The head block has to be replaced because on the radio they replaced the machines when they were totally worn. I didn't get his number yet but I will ... I guess I have the proper technician guy in my own town :)

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petermontg
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Location: Ireland.

Post: # 22001Unread post petermontg
Thu Nov 29, 2012 4:16 pm

Thinking out loud here.

Is there a relay or automation switch available to sync 2 reels - playback & capture. So when at desk one could just press a button there and the 2 would align for capture without leaving the desk.

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diamone
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Location: Silicon Valley

Re: Reel to reel machine

Post: # 24781Unread post diamone
Tue Apr 16, 2013 1:06 am

As far as German (B Wind) reels vs American (A Wind):
German-wound tapes are played with the oxide facing out, as in a cassette.
To convert from A-Wind to B-Wind, turn the tape a half-turn and rewind.
The oxide will now be facing out, you thread the deck just as you would for an American deck and proceed as instructed.

It depends on what you define as ``sync''.

If you are trying to do timed playback like the old radio-automation systems used to do - i.e. when one reel of one program ran out, the next unrelated one would start, there's all kinds of ways to accomplish that.

but if you are trying to sync two different music elements of the same program (i.e. a backing track Basic Stem to it's bounce-down-and-vocal-overdub tapes - no there is no such thing.

Audio restorationists such as Chace Audio by Deluxe spend hundreds of man-hours and use equipment costing millions of dollars to read the bias frequency on the session tapes - create a ``speed adjustment program'' based on that - play the tape back on a programmable deck and then do the same with the various overdub masters - and they STILL have to spend even MORE time tweaking the sync by hand in the digital domain before it even has a SEMBLANCE of locking completely back to itself.

But then again, the guys over on the Unconventional Stereo (digitally extracted stereo or digitally constructed stereo) on the BSNPubs forum - do quick-and-dirty versions in their spare time over a few months.
2 Kinds of Men/Records: Low Noise & Wide Range. LN is mod. fidelity, cheap, & easy. WR is High Fidelity & Abrasive to its' Environment. Remember that when you encounter a Grumpy Engineer. (:-D)

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